Nelson Mandela's Life In Pictures

On December 5th, Nelson Mandela passed away. The anti-apartheid icon was in and out of the hospital throughout the year as he fought a recurring lung infection. As the world comes together to pray for his family, we're taking a look back at his amazing 95 years of life. Join us in remembering the former leader.

Nelson Mandela's Life in Pictures

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ESSENCE honors beloved freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela.

Photo by Mirrorpix/Courtesy Everett Collection

Young at Heart

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Born Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela on July 18, 1918 in the Eastern Cape region (a teacher would later give him the name Nelson) of South Africa, Mandela is most revered for leading a decades-long resistance struggle against White-minority rule in South Africa. Here he is pictured wearing traditional Xhosa garb as a young lawyer circa 1950.

Photo by Hulton Archive/Apic/Getty Images

Representation

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In 1952, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo opened the first Black legal firm in South Africa providing free or low-cost legal counsel to Black South Africans.

Photo by Gallo Images/ Getty

Family Affair

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Mandela divorced his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase in 1957, the same year he met Nomzamo "Winnie" Madikizela. They married on June 14, 1958.

Photo by Gallo Images/Avusa

Free At Last

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Mandela and then-wife Winnie raise their fists to salute the cheering crowd after his release from Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990. It was his first taste of freedom in 27 years.

Photo by ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images

Rally the Crowd

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Nelson Mandela adresses a rally attended by more than 100,000 people at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto on February 13, 1990, two days after his release from prison.

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

All Smiles

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Nelson Mandela

Diplomatic

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Nelson Mandela shakes hands with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on July 4, 1990 on the steps of No 10 Downing St., London.

Photo by GERRY PENNY/AFP/GettyImages

Paris Visit

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Mandela and his then-wife Winnie attended a ceremony in his honour at Trocadero Square on the Plaza of Freedom and Human Rights on June 6, 1990 in Paris, four months after his release from prison.

Photo by DANIEL JANIN/AFP/Getty Images

Smooches

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Mandela leans forward to kiss his then-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at a rally held in Khayelitsh, Cape Town in March 1990.

Photo by Benny Gool/Oryx Media Archive/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Hand In Hand

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Mandela and his then-wife Winnie stroll on February 12, 1990 in the garden of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s residence in Cape Town, one day after Mandela's release from jail.

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

Baby Love

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Mandela and his then-wife Winnie Mandela play with their grandchild, Bambata, at their Soweto home in February 1990. They would separate two years later after Winnie was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault. Their divorce was finalized in 1993. "I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside of prison from the moment I first met her," said Mandela in a statement.

Photo by WALTER DHALDHLA/AFP/Getty Images

Proud Day

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Mandela embraces daughter Zinzi Mandela during her wedding to Zweli Hlongwane, a businessman, on October 26, 1992.

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

Family Bond

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Mandela with daughter Zinzi Mandela Hlongwane keep close during his birthday party.

Photo by Gallo Images/Avusa

Share a Smile

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Danny Glover, Nelson Mandela and Harry Belafonte share a moment in 1993 shortly before Mandela became the first Black president of South Africa.

Photo by Time Life Pictures/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Cheers To You

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Nelson Mandela toasts with colleagues at his office after winning the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with President Frederik Willem de Klerk in 1993. Mandela became the second ANC leader awarded with the prize after late Chief Albert Luthuli in 1960.

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

Traditions

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Mandela jokingly poses with a spear, presented to him with traditional clothes at an election rally at Mngqesha, the former 'Great Place' of a famous Xosha king, on April 18, 1994.

Photo by GUY TILLIM/AFP/Getty Images

Mr. President

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu introduces Nelson Mandela to the crowd at the City Hall, Cape Town, after he was elected President of South Africa on May 11, 1994.

Photo by Gallo Images/Oryx Media Archive/Getty Images

Reflecting

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In 1995 Mandela visited his former cell in notorious Robben Island prison off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa where he'd spent 19 of his 27 years in prison.

Photo by GUY TILLIM/AFP/Getty Images

Show and Tell

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Nelson Mandela and Bill Cosby with his wife Camille Cosby in Nelson Mandela's old prison cell.

Photo by Oryx Media Archive/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Warm Embrace

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Michael Jackson was among the many celebrities who visited Mandela in South Africa.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Wonder-ful

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Mandela embraces American international pop-star Stevie Wonder in Pretoria at the presidential residence. Mandela praised Wonder for his involvement in anti-apartheid activities when the African National Congress was still a banned organization in South Africa.

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

Men of Honor

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Mandela talks with Pope John Paul II during a meeting at the Vatican in1998. Mandela thanked the Pope for the Catholic Church's help in education and health care of black South Africans when the white minority government wrote them off as second-class citizens.

Photo by PAOLO COCCO/AFP/Getty Images

80th Birthday Kiss

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Mandela receives an 80th birthday kiss from his daughter Zinzi Mandela-Hlongwane and international supermodel Naomi Campbell, at the Skukuza Game Reserve in the North Province. In his address at a birthday lunch Mandela said 'Birthdays are a time to celebrate our lives and today I would like us to do just that.'

Photo by WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

High Honors

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Mandela shakes hand with Canadian Governor General Romeo LeBlanc after receiving his Officer of Order of Canada as Prime Minister Jean Chretien looks on in Ottawa, Canada. Manadela was the first foreign leader to receive Canada's highest award.

Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP/Getty Images

Leading Men

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President Bill Clinton and former South African President Nelson Mandela shake hands during their meeting in October 1999 in the Oval Office of the White House.

So Regal

Medal of Honor

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, President Bill Clinton and Strom Thurmond present Nelson Mandela the Congressional Gold Medal.

Photo by Douglas Graham/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images

Dr. Mandela

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Mandela wears a traditional mortar board while receiving two honourary doctorates at the Sydney University in 2000. Mandela received a Doctor of Law from both the University of Sydney and the University of Technology.

Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP/Getty Images

An Affair to Remember

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Mandela married his current wife Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique, on his 80th birthday. Here they attend celebrations for his 85th birthday.

Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images

History Making

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Mandela holds the Jules Rimet World Cup beside Capetown Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich after South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup finals, the first to be played in Africa.

Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

Honored Guest

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Mandela smiles after receiving an honorary degree from Amherst College at St. Bartholomew Church May 12, 2005 in New York City.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Portrait

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Nelson Mandela

Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

Kid at Heart

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Mandela jokes with youngsters as they celebrate his 89th birthday at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in Johannesburg on July 24, 2007.

Photo by ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images

By Your Side

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Mandela and wife Graca Machel pose ahead of a 46664 concert held in his honor at London's Hyde Park in 2008.